Linkage disequilibrium and association mapping of drought tolerance in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) germplasm population from diverse regions of Pakistan

Drought stress is a major abiotic stress that limits crop production. Molecular association mapping techniques through linkage disequilibrium (LD) can be effectively used to tag genomic regions involved in drought stress tolerance. With the association mapping approach, 90 genotypes of cotton Gossypium hirsutum, from diverse regions of Pakistan were used. The morpho-physiological traits of all genotypes were evaluated in greenhouse under well-watered and drought stress conditions. Mean squares from analysis of variance for all morpho-physiological traits revealed highly significant variations (P≤0.05) between water levels and genotypes. Cotton varieties were screened for polymorphism with 180 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Out of these 180 SSR markers, 95 were polymorphic. Genotyping of the selected 95 SSR primer pairs generated 57.5% polymorphism, and the number of polymorphic alleles per primer was 2.10. Population structure, linkage disequilibrium, and association mapping between pairs of SSR marker loci were studied. The significance of pairwise LD (P≤0.005) among all possible SSR loci was evaluated at significant threshold values (R2≥0.05); 7.1% of the SSR marker pairs showed significant pairwise LD in 90 accessions of G. hirsutum. Also we observed a significant (R2) LD between 13 pairs of SSR loci; each pair within the same chromosome in a range of 180 cM between NAU1230 and NAU3095 loci in chromosome (D5) and 1.612 cM between NAU462 and NAU3414 in chromosome A9. This indicates tight linkage between two alleles on the same chromosome. Markers, NAU3414, NAU2691, NAU1141 and NAU1190 were associated with more than single traits under drought treatments. Highest phenotypic variance explaining (R2) was ascribed to NAU3011 chromosome D13 significantly (p≤0.001) associated with root length under drought treatment.Keywords: Cotton Gossypium hirsutum, drought stress, association mapping, linkage disequilibrium (LD), simple sequence repeats (SSRs

A Method for Distributed Pipeline Burst and Leakage Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks Using Transform Analysis

Bursts and leakages have turned out to be one of the most frequent malfunctions in liquid pipeline distribution systems. In recent years, the issue has gained a lot of attention in research community due to associated financial costs, environmental hazards, and safety considerations. Wireless sensor network (WSN) based leakage detection and localization can provide an exceptional level of operational efficiency, safety assurance, and real-time parametric view of the entire pipeline network. In this paper, we propose a transient pressure wave based technique coupled with wavelet analysis to achieve reliable detection and localization of abrupt bursts and leakages. The presented technique uses the information carried in the transient pressure signal. A specific pattern is induced on the pressure traces within the pipeline due to leak; we use wavelet analysis to detect these local singularities. The proposed algorithm is distributed in nature and run on low power sensor nodes. The algorithm is deployed in field on a custom pipeline test bed and performance results are documented for various testing scenarios. A comparison of proposed wavelet technique with other widely used methods has been carried out. The technique provides more than 90% accuracy in a number of deployment scenarios for high noise generating long pipeline networks

Design of near field communication passive antenna for circular shaped wearable items

The paper discusses proposed Near Field Communication (NFC) passive antenna design for circular and round shaped wearable items like rings, watches and wristbands. Several NFC passive tags were available in the market, which had different shaped antennas, incorporated into them. However, these tags were designed with specific shape and diameter and could not fit for most of the wearable items like rings, watches and wristbands etc. In order to overcome this problem, a customized NFC antenna for passive tags was designed, which could be suitable for circular shaped wearable items. Moreover, comparative analysis of proposed antenna with vendor made antenna had been performed to show how proposed customized antenna was much more efficient in performance

Network Challenges for Cyber Physical Systems with Tiny Wireless Devices: A Case Study on Reliable Pipeline Condition Monitoring

The synergy of computational and physical network components leading to the Internet of Things, Data and Services has been made feasible by the use of Cyber Physical Systems (CPSs). CPS engineering promises to impact system condition monitoring for a diverse range of fields from healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation to aerospace and warfare. CPS for environment monitoring applications completely transforms human-to-human, human-to-machine and machine-to-machine interactions with the use of Internet Cloud. A recent trend is to gain assistance from mergers between virtual networking and physical actuation to reliably perform all conventional and complex sensing and communication tasks. Oil and gas pipeline monitoring provides a novel example of the benefits of CPS, providing a reliable remote monitoring platform to leverage environment, strategic and economic benefits. In this paper, we evaluate the applications and technical requirements for seamlessly integrating CPS with sensor network plane from a reliability perspective and review the strategies for communicating information between remote monitoring sites and the widely deployed sensor nodes. Related challenges and issues in network architecture design and relevant protocols are also provided with classification. This is supported by a case study on implementing reliable monitoring of oil and gas pipeline installations. Network parameters like node-discovery, node-mobility, data security, link connectivity, data aggregation, information knowledge discovery and quality of service provisioning have been reviewed

Storage Conditions Deteriorate Cotton and Wheat Seeds Quality: An Assessment of Farmers' Awareness in Pakistan

Seed quality is accessed by appropriate seed germination, seed moisture contents, insect/pathogen infestations and seed vigor. Seed storage conditions are essential to protect from deterioration. In this study, knowledge and practices of wheat and cotton seeds storage were accessed among commercial seed growers (CSGs) and non-commercial seeds growers (NCSGs) in the Vehari District of Pakistan, while samples of stored wheat and cotton seeds were also collected to assess the quality of stored seeds. Stored seeds in the study area were contaminated by a variety of fungi, with infestation percentages reaching 13% for wheat and 20.7% for cotton in seeds from NCSGs, compared to 9% (wheat) and 9.5% (cotton) in seeds from CSGs. The majority of seed growers (75.0%) did not have any training on seed storage. The growers (60.9%) were unaware that seed should not be stored in closed polythene bags and most (62.2%) were not well aware about seed-borne crop diseases. Most growers did not maintain the temperature and humidity of storage rooms (82.7%) and did not calculate the seed rate before sowing after seed germination tests (87.2%). However, seed dressing with fungicides was implemented by most farmers (69.9%). Controlling the temperature of the seed storage was significantly influenced by growers' age, while controlling the humidity of the seed storage was significantly influenced by growers' farming experience. Seed dressing with fungicides was positively associated with the graduation level of growers, while checking seed maturity was positively associated with the higher education (Master's level) of growers. There was a lack of active information centers in the study areas and a lack of agricultural information provision to farmers. Awareness regarding bad-quality seeds should be initiated to increase growers' knowledge. Training programs for providing adequate knowledge to growers and skills in seed storage should be organized. Legislation regarding the seed business and seed storage protective measures should be enforced to minimize problems by a seed-borne inoculum and deterioration of seed quality

Storage Conditions Deteriorate Cotton and Wheat Seeds Quality: An Assessment of Farmers’ Awareness in Pakistan

Seed quality is accessed by appropriate seed germination, seed moisture contents, insect/pathogen infestations and seed vigor. Seed storage conditions are essential to protect from deterioration. In this study, knowledge and practices of wheat and cotton seeds storage were accessed among commercial seed growers (CSGs) and non-commercial seeds growers (NCSGs) in the Vehari District of Pakistan, while samples of stored wheat and cotton seeds were also collected to assess the quality of stored seeds. Stored seeds in the study area were contaminated by a variety of fungi, with infestation percentages reaching 13% for wheat and 20.7% for cotton in seeds from NCSGs, compared to 9% (wheat) and 9.5% (cotton) in seeds from CSGs. The majority of seed growers (75.0%) did not have any training on seed storage. The growers (60.9%) were unaware that seed should not be stored in closed polythene bags and most (62.2%) were not well aware about seed-borne crop diseases. Most growers did not maintain the temperature and humidity of storage rooms (82.7%) and did not calculate the seed rate before sowing after seed germination tests (87.2%). However, seed dressing with fungicides was implemented by most farmers (69.9%). Controlling the temperature of the seed storage was significantly influenced by growers’ age, while controlling the humidity of the seed storage was significantly influenced by growers’ farming experience. Seed dressing with fungicides was positively associated with the graduation level of growers, while checking seed maturity was positively associated with the higher education (Master’s level) of growers. There was a lack of active information centers in the study areas and a lack of agricultural information provision to farmers. Awareness regarding bad-quality seeds should be initiated to increase growers’ knowledge. Training programs for providing adequate knowledge to growers and skills in seed storage should be organized. Legislation regarding the seed business and seed storage protective measures should be enforced to minimize problems by a seed-borne inoculum and deterioration of seed quality

Non-Wearable IoT-Based Smart Ambient Behavior Observation System

A growing number of advanced smart systems and solutions are being designed for the elderly, helping them to live longer at home. These systems need to provide unobtrusive monitoring and safety for their users and information for the healthcare professionals and family members. Multi-modal sensor data enables the possibility for in-depth behavioral analysis. To gather multi-modal data, we propose an IoT-based smart ambient behavior observation system (SABOS). SABOS provides unobtrusive monitoring of daily living activities by utilizing various sensors integrated into the residential house. To reduce the amount of data, we present a data reduction algorithm. The data reduction algorithm effectively reduces over 90% of the submitted data with full recovery in the cloud. Data is sent to ThingSpeak for MATLAB visualization and analysis to generate graphical illustrations of daily living activities. In an emergency, an “if this then that” (IFTTT) service combined with ThingSpeak triggers an applet to send a defined message to a healthcare professional or a family member